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As for really anyone else, the holidays were pretty rough calorically. I ate all the things. Even when I was trying not to eat all the things, I ate all the things.

With every cookie and bite of pasta I would simply remind myself, “it’s not forever”.

That’s where the holidays tend to get tricky. People keep reminding themselves that it’s not forever and that they can continue doing it until just after the celebrations are over. The problem is, the celebrations are rarely over.

There’s Thanksgiving, the winter holidays, New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Easter, 4th of July and in between all of those holidays are people’s birthdays. Rather than to treat those events as the special occasions they are, we choose to celebrate entire months!

Christmas is one day but you would never know it from the commercials that start in July and the decorations that go up just after kids go back to school in September. The advertising starts earlier and earlier every year and so does the eating.

I’m one of the worst offenders of this mentality. I eat the candy that is reserved for the trick or treaters, the pumpkin pie, the Christmas cookies, drink all of the wine and I wonder why I’m fat in January.

This year was no exception. I weighed in at a whoppin’ 142 pounds on December 29th which is 12 pounds higher than my goal weight. So naturally, I decided to take action in the only way I know how. I made my boyfriend throw away all of the junk food because I am a hoarder who can’t part with anything delicious, I cut out dairy, grains and refined sugar, and I started labeling myself as “paleo” and “whole30″.

I made cauliflower fried rice (delicious), chicken mole (also delicious), and wings (not delicious). I ate lots and lots of meat and vegetables and I even ate fruit which is something I usually avoid like the plague. I still drank non-paleo wine because, let’s be honest, I’m not Wonder Woman. I had more energy, my skin looked great, and I even lost three pounds.

But last night, after two weeks, I had a craving for pancakes that just wouldn’t go away. The planned meal was bison burgers but the thought of anything but syrupy goodness was actually kind of repulsive. I gave in, but in a way that was different to how I usually do.

I went to IHOP after calculating my calories and realized that I could fit exactly three chocolate chip pancakes (and syrup) into my daily calories. I decided to forget about my macros for the night and do some conditioning the next day to work it off instead.

I felt downright awful after eating the pancakes. I don’t mean guilty, because I was the happiest girl in the world. I had a horrible stomachache and a pounding headache that just wouldn’t go away.

While some of you are wondering, was it worth it then? I’ll tell you. Yes, dear reader, it was so worth it.

The difference is, it’s not worth it to do it all the time. The pancakes I ate last night were everything I ever wanted from food because I had waited so long for them.

This weekend, I helped two of my friends move. They had just bought a house and needed people to help them get boxes upon boxes of stuff into a moving van in the driveway.

As one of three girls who were helping, I got asked if I needed help more times than I would have liked. Whether I was bending down to pick up a box, or if I already had it in my hands, someone always seemed to swoop in and ask me if I needed help carrying it.

In fact, at one point, I was carrying a coffee table up a flight of stairs when one particular individual stood at the bottom of the stairs telling me that I “shouldn’t be lifting that”.

I understand that the people asking mean well. It’s not typical or common to see a girl who is able to pick up heavy things, or even willing to try for that matter. In fact, when I got frustrated at one of the guys, my friend responded with “he’s just trying to help”.

To me, helping would be to grab another box and to load it into the truck. Standing next to me asking questions while I’m trying to carry something heavy is actually the opposite of helping, it’s hurting.

My frustrations with this day brought up a lot of questions. Why do people believe that it is okay to assert the stereotype that women are weak, even when they repeatedly assure them that they are not?

My strength is a source of serious pride, and not one that I ever want someone to question. If you wouldn’t question a guy of equal size and stature about their strength, why is it okay to question mine?

The answer is it’s not. If I’m not questioning it, neither should you.

This weekend I decided to revamp some of the workouts that I’ve seen in popular women’s fitness magazines. This week, I decided to use Fitness magazine, creator of the “Princess Push-up” as the basis for my first installment.

I went on their website and took a few exercises from different categories to build my own workout that I would actually do in the gym. I changed the exercises to ones that focus on the same muscle groups, in a more effective manner.

After warming up, perform three sets of eight of each of the following exercise:

Grab a dumbbell with your hands in a goblet style position, holding one end of the weight.

Stand shoulder width apart.

Push your butt back and sit into a squat.

Squeeze your glutes and push back into a standing position.

Why I think that this exercise is better : First of all, the Heaven and Earth features a squat that involves rounding your back. This is a bad practice because you can hurt yourself if you add more weight. Sure it works with the beach towel that that model is using, but what’s your goal? If your goal is to “tone up”, you probably want to gain muscle and lose fat. You’re not going to accomplish that without adding weight to your squats, and a beach towel definitely isn’t going to get you there. If you want to get a nicer butt, add some weight and do some real squats.

Assume an athletic position and pull the cable with one arm, keeping your arm close to your body.

Return to start.

Why I think this is a better exercise: There is no reason to do rows in all sorts of directions. A simple bent over row would suffice for the goals they show here. I like the cable row because it puts less strain on your back than a bent over row would, allowing you to add more weight than you would be able to do with a dumbbell.

Lay with your back, just under your shoulder blades, on the side of a bench, with your feet under your knees.

Keeping your abs tight, lower your butt to the floor and lift up.

Return to start.

Why I think this is a better exercise: There’s a lot going on in Fitness Magazine’s “Toe Squat with Overhead Reach”. You’re on your toes, your hands are above your head and you’re pulsing in a squat. Sure, it burns after a few reps, but not only do you look absolutely ridiculous doing it, it isn’t going to get you the results you want over time. The Glute Bridge is a really great beginner workout that will get you the glutes that you want.

With the cable stack at the same height as the cable row, stand with your side to the machine.

Pull the cable in front of you, pressing forward and slowly lowering back to start, keeping your abs engaged.

Do 8 reps and switch sides and repeat.

Why I think this is a better exercise: First of all, what in the world is this supposed to accomplish? This is looks like a child throwing a hissy fit, not a woman trying to work out. If you’re trying to work your obliques, you’ll get much better results with a Pallof

One thing that’s really been driving me crazy lately is how women’s fitness is portrayed in magazines. From Fitness, to Self, even to Muscle and Fitness Hers, everything shows a girl doing ridiculous workouts, often decked out in a pair of five pound ankle weights.

Everything claims “if you want to tone this part of your body, this is the best exercise to do that!” meanwhile, the exercises have bizarre names and even stranger “choreography” if you want to call it that.

The outrage started when I saw something called a Princess Pushup in an issue of Fitness Magazine. First of all, what is so wrong about doing a regular pushup? Lack of upper body strength is not an excuse as there are so many modifications that you can make until you’re able to do them.

Also, in this video, the demonstrator says “for all you ladies out there who aren’t a fan of the push-up”. Chances are, if I didn’t do everything that I wasn’t a fan of, I wouldn’t be doing very much at all.

It makes me absolutely insane that all of these “trainers” out there are teaching women that these are the exercises that they need to do to get the bodies they want. I’m even willing to bet that the girl in that video didn’t get her body from doing Princess Push-ups, or any other of the exercises that she demonstrates.

As a solution to this new pet peeve, I’ve decided to start modifying workouts in popular fitness magazines to make them actually beneficial for women to achieve their goals. I’m not a trainer, and I don’t claim to be. I live with my boyfriend who trains hundreds of athletes each week and who writes all of my programs. I read a lot to educate myself on exercise and nutrition. I’ve dropped 7% of my body fat in three months lifting heavy weights and eating good food.

So while these certified trainers may have a piece of paper showing that they passed a few tests, I’ve learned what works for me and several of my friends through trial and error, and with the help of the people around me.

My goal is to bring workouts that work to women who want them, all without the purchase of a pair of ankle weights.

Yesterday, when I was weighing myself at the gym, a woman was standing behind me. Usually this bugs me. If I’m weighing myself, I probably want some space and not for someone to be looking over my shoulder.

I got on the scale first and I saw that I weighed 142 pounds. The woman behind me looked at me and said “where do you keep that! I’m bigger than you and I only weigh 130″. At the time, this was not a flattering statement.

I don’t really like the fact that I weigh 142 pounds, three months after I stopped taking steroids. I’ve been working out and eating really well so I keep getting upset when I notice that the scale doesn’t even slightly budge.

I’ve noticed that I look like I’m making progress and I definitely fit in my clothes better, but I was still bothered by my weight staying the same.

Then, this morning I took my body fat percentage.

Three months ago I weighed 144 pounds and was 27% body fat. I was in the “acceptable” range, even if it didn’t feel like it. Today I am 142 pounds and 21% body fat, putting me in the “fitness/athletic” range.

Realizing that I put on about 6 pounds of muscle made me feel a lot better about the weight on the scale. While I’ve been trying not to weigh myself for the most part, sometimes my curiosity gets the better of me and I check anyway.

Taking my body fat percentage today made me realize that there really is no point in weighing yourself to determine your progress, especially if you’re lifting. From now on, I’ll be tracking my body fat percentage, with a goal of 18%.

Every time I start to diet, I get into the same rut. I’ll restrict myself so much that I get sick of what I’m eating and I end up binging. That binge will result in me diving face first into a tub of ice cream, never to be seen again.

What I’m realizing lately is that there needs to be a balance between “I’m going to be so strict with my diet” and “eat all the carbs!”

The biggest problem that I’ve had so far with my “dieting” is that I force myself to eat things I don’t like. It turns out that I really hate eggs. I hate the smell, I hate the texture, and I hate the taste. There are very few things that I can put in eggs to make them taste good, and after forcing myself to eat them for about a year now, I just can’t eat them at all.

I ate eggs because I felt like they were the only breakfast food that was packed with protein. Now that I’ve pretty much sworn off eggs, I’ve been drinking protein shakes for breakfast with yogurt and peanut butter. I’m usually sort of nauseous in the morning, so drinking my breakfast is probably the best option anyway.

I also was eating a ton of plain grilled chicken and vegetables. I like grilled chicken, but it’s by no means my favorite food. Besides being bland, raw chicken freaks me out and slightly overcooked chicken is rubbery and gross. I’m not a bad cook, but I’m also not overly attentive when grilling.

My new solution has been to find alternative protein sources that don’t disgust me as much. Chicken sausage and chicken meatballs have been a pretty solid option, especially because you can buy them precooked from awesome brands like Applegate naturals.

Chicken also started to get kind of played out because I was ordering it in restaurants. Billy doesn’t eat seafood, so I never make it when we eat at home, but I’ve been ordering more fish and shrimp when I go out now to mix up the protein I eat.

The biggest thing that I’ve been trying to do is to not deprive myself, but to not just say “screw it, I’m eating this”. I used to not eat hummus because I felt that it was too high in carbs, and now I basically eat some every day. I also wasn’t eating fruit because it’s high in sugar, but I’ve been buying more lately to get extra fiber and nutrients.

I still eat dessert sometimes, and probably more often than I should, but that’s okay. I was so focused on losing the most weight I could, as fast as I could, as I wasn’t enjoying the process. Every workout was calculated and every meal was selected meticulously.

I’ve come to terms with the fact that I won’t have a six pack in two months, or maybe not even ever if I don’t want to. I would rather eat food that tastes good and be in good shape, than eat boring, bland food and be shredded.

Everyone thinks that working out and losing weight should be a miserable activity. We should go to the gym, feel the burn, and leave soaked in sweat and slightly nauseated.

Most people even classify a “tough workout” as one that leaves you unable to move for the next three days or one that results in throwing up or bleeding. I think the main reason for that is shows like The Biggest Loser, where people are worked until they’re sick or in pain. It makes for better television, but it’s not healthy in the long term.

As someone who likes to be comfortable, I’ve never much liked this mentality, but for a while, I sort of believed it myself. I would run on the treadmill even though it was the most boring and painful thing that I could possible force myself to do, all for the sake of a “tough workout”.

Recently though, I’ve decided that working out should be something that’s enjoyable, if not just flat out fun. I made a list of things that I like to do, and have been switching

up my workouts to include those things.

By adding in things that you really like to do, you’ll be less likely to get stuck in the rut of going to the gym every day and doing the same thing. I’ve also found that trying new formsof exercise can be really fun.

As much as I hate running, I’ve decided that maybe I’ll sign up for a 5K for a cause that I like or a fun obstacle race. It’ll give me a reason to train, and if I still can’t stand it after a few weeks I’ll be fine knowing that running is just not for me.

To get out of the routine of going out to dinner and sitting around on the couch, Billy bought tennis racquets and we’ve been going to the nearby court to play on weekend nights. It’s fun and competitive, and it gets us both moving when we would normally be watching TV or eating.

Losing weight and getting in shape is hard enough as it is, there is no reason to make it harder than it has to be. Pick something you like to do, and stop doing the things you hate. With so many options, there’s no excuse to be miserable while working out.